I'm usually self-conscious taking photos of strangers, but this time I couldn't resist. These 3 guys were so freakin' hip and I can only hope to be cool like dat when I'm their age.I know it's hard to tell in this photo, but both of the guys on the right are on their laptops. Sharing not only photos, but other miscellaneous technical information with each other. Sweet.
Jimmy and I finally celebrated our anniversary last weekend. We went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Palo Alto then headed to San Francisco for ice cream at...Ghirardelli Square, of course! We drove around the city for 4 hours, going to miscellaneous "Points of Interest" on the GPS, which included the Grateful Dead home near the corner of Haight and Ashbury, Billy Goat Hill Park - a park on the side of a high hill, new-to-us vista points in the Presidio, Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies, Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park and a lot more, finally getting home just after 2am. But if any of you notice the times I usually post my blogs, after 2am isn't late for us.
While we were in SF, we stopped by AT&T Park.We'll be back there all day Saturday to watch Supercross races. It'll be fun as long as it doesn't rain. I'm bringing my Kindle because I'll be interested for 5 of the 10 hours, but my mind will wander a lot, that I know for sure. I'm reading "The Lovely Bones" because I considered going to the movies to watch it, but decided to read the book first. _
Happy New Year!!! It's so hard to believe that it's 2010! Doesn't it seem like just a moment ago when so many people were fearful about the 1999-2000 changeover? That Y2K panic? Well, not only did we survive that transition, we survived the past 10 years. And there's always something to look forward for the next 10 years, opportunities to make changes for the better, to continue growing and learning.
Well, Jimmy and I couldn't have rung in the new year any better. It's awesome to be able to start a new year with the dearest of friends.
We went to dinner at the Bowens and stayed till the clock struck midnight.We played several rounds of Apples to Apples - so fun, especially when I was the judge and my word was "Spicy" and someone put down "Keanu Reeves". So funny! Miss A won that green card, heehee!!
It was the 1st time Miss A stayed awake all the way till midnight! So exciting to be able to celebrate with her. Sweet Prince W almost made it, but fell asleep while we watched tv and was out cold around 11:40pm. He got so close!
How did you ring in the New Year?
Growing up, my mom had a few New Year's traditions/superstitions. The 1st was to always make sure the house was clean then your house would be clean the whole year. Um. I so did not follow that tradition. Ever. Right now, I have shipping boxes piled in the living room that need to be cut down for recycling. Dishes in the sink. Piles of paper everywhere.
Another one of her traditions/superstitions was to not spend any money on New Year's Day otherwise you'll be spending money throughout the whole year. This one I'm pretty good at following. Mostly because I just like staying home on New Years Day.
She had another tradition of eating rice or beans or leafy greens. I can't remember which, but I think it's suppose to bring you luck and health. I don't adhere to any food related traditions today. I'm making turkey tacos for dinner...there can't be any significance to that.
oh so every happy about the rain we are getting. woot to fall, ya'll! Raise your hands if you love the smell of rain?
Our niece moved to Northern California last weekend, I think she'll welcome the change in weather. Last weekend it was 80 degrees and she needed a sweater. Big difference between last weekend and this. Now I suspect she's cozy under a down blanket, already studying hard. Classes start tomorrow! So proud of her, going for her PhD in Political Science.
While the family was here helping her move, we met our dog-niece, Poppy. She's my SIL's beautiful labradoodle.
Isn't she adorable????
Those eyes just kill me. Lots of energy, she's only 4 months old, but already well trained. She spent 2 nites at out house and she couldn't have been a better guest.
After spending much of the summer at the hideaway, we're staying local most of this month. Do you have a lot of bday celebrations this month? I didn't realize how many people are born in September! Which reminds me that I have to mail a package to another niece who's bday was Saturday. _
In the past 2 weeks since my last post, I've been home for 3 days. well, i suppose "home" is relative...because I really should refer to our hideaway as home, too. But I guess since our regular day to day activities happen at our home in the Bay Area, I always refer to that as home. What I'm trying to say is that we're not on our regularily scheduled program. Summer is suppose to be like that, isn't it?
Since I last wrote, I quietly celebrated my birthday, we celebrated my MIL's birthday, drove up and down California to hang out with my BFF and her kiddos for 3 days, nearly finished another quilt...ran out of thread...so I'll finish it this weekend, took a ride in the Rhino in the forest, fretted about a forest fire that's only about 7 miles from the hideaway (thankfully, because of the direction it's moving and ridges and road breaks, no threat to the community), took our little teeny tiny boat out on the SF Bay for the first time, and spent some quality time w/ the parentals. Tomorrow, we'll head out on the Rhino again with the neighbors, perhaps get some birds-eye views of the fire. I've also tended a farm, ran a restaurant and created a comfy home for my pet - all facebook games that I'm addicted to. Care to join me? Then please, jump on that FB bandwagon and play with me! I guarantee that you'll waste valuable hours.
I'll post more details of our summer events soon!
photo of the fire that started Sunday afternoon. _
I've decided that I have to break out of my blah-bloggy-ness and get back to writing more frequently. Things have been happening. I'm keeping busy. I have amazing supportive friends and family and the engine keeps a-rollin'.
And a rollin' it is...Jimmy and I celebrated our Eighteenth wedding anniversary today. Holy crap. It doesn't seem that long and it freaks me out a little that we could actually have a kid graduating from high school this spring. ALTHOUGH...I guess that would have meant that we would've had a shot-gun wedding, cuz at the very least, I wouldda have had to have been preggers, if not already a mom by the time we got married that amazing day in 1991.
In my previous posts about our anniversary, I shared pics from that fantastic day. But not now. Because I decided to share a photo from today. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna do a side by side comparison of how we look now compared to how we looked then. Pahleeze. Of course, you could always click here or here and check out those old photos and compare what 18 years of marriage does to a couple. Oh, I suppose being 40 vs. 22 might make a teeny tiny itty bitty difference, too. But shhhhh, don't say anything out loud, my ego can't handle it.So tonight Jimmy and I went out to dinner at Maggiano's with the family. Yes, we are quite content that we spent our anniversary celebration not alone at a romantic restaurant, but with our beloved family enjoying the celebrations with us. Besides, we needed them there to help us eat all that food. Have you ever eaten at Maggiano's? Good gravy, I seriously have never seen so much food delivered to a table before. Ya order family style with 2 appetizers, 2 salads, 2 pastas, 2 meat entrees and 2 desserts. Not enough? They'll bring refills at no extra charge. I can't believe I didn't take any photos of all the food, but I did take a photo of the additional dessert they gave us complimentary since it was our anniversary.mmm...delicious. You get to take home all the leftovers, too. Bonus meal tomorrow!
So, what else have I been doing...besides eating all of Manhattan. Oh wait, where am I? The Bay Area, that's right. Manhattan just sounded cooler. Not that the Bay Area isn't cool, cuz in fact, I personally (don't be hatin' anyone on the east coast), I think the Bay Area is cooler than Manhattan. I'm just a west coast gal I guess. Just my personal opinion, me who has never ever lived in any another state. So what the heck do i know? Besides, I love Manhattan so very, very much, I'd just rather live here. Tangent. Nevermind.
Thursday night, Jimmy and I went into the city (aka San Francisco) to watch a Technical Visual Arts Performance set to Music at the Luggage Store Gallery on Market Street. They don't sell luggage. "The Luggage Store programs are dedicated to broadening social and aesthetic networks, encouraging the flow of images and ideas between different cultural and economic communities."
Anyone have stereotypical notions about San Francisco hole-in-the-wall performing art houses? Anyone? Anyone? This place just might fit your bill. Who wants to come with us next time??
It was awesome but I have to admit, completely and totally over my pea-brain. Because, seriously? there were parts of it that were so very technically involved but all I saw were colors and music.
There were 2 performances, the 1st by Big City Orchestra and the first 20ish minutes, the audience listened to what they call "experimental noise pop" in a very black room. Then they take down a black curtain and reveal a rotating...i donno how to describe it...Jimmy likened it to the turning spiral circle thing from the Twilight Zone.Yea. With, literally, seizure causing strob lights flashing every 1/10000th of a second. For real, I thought I was gonna have a seizure. And for real, I thought that they were doing some mind controlling experiment and after it was all done, we'd all go home and go about our lives then unexpectedly we'd hear the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and then we'll have to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia. It could happen.
Anyhoo...as interesting as that was, we didn't go to see them. We had Intent. The 2nd performance was by Tim Thompson. He's a software engineer and artist and one of Jimmy's friends. The stuff he does was a lot less scary and way more interesting and best of all, it didn't make my head want to explode. But it was so technically involved that while I enjoyed the sound and I thought the lights were cool, I just wasn't able to understand the objective of the performance.
Maybe since my entire musical ability revolves around the XBOX360 Rock Band game, my musical prowess isn't really evolved either. (you think?)
Here's a vid from his site: and his quote accompanying the video:
"A live solo performance using the latest incarnation of my custom software. Both music and visuals are generated in realtime from the notes I play on a MIDI keyboard and controller. My software processes and loops the notes, sending MIDI notes to soft synths to make the sound, and sending OSC to graphics software to make the visuals. The MIDI parts were written using KeyKit, and the visual parts use Python and Freeframe plugins."
Of course, Jimmy totally got it.
Regardless, it was a blast.
Just stay away from us if you're the Prime Minister of Malaysia*. _
Crikey, is it really the beginning of another year? I don't even know where the past week went, much less a whole nother year ~poof~ just vanished.
Almost all day yesterday, the last day of the year, I spent in my PJs. I temporarily threw on some jeans around noon to get lunch, but when I got home, I threw my PJs back on. Then around 8:30pm, I was instant messaging my BFF, and she asked if we had any plans for New Years. I told her nope and explained how the day had be a never-get-out-of-my-PJs day. But as soon as our convo ended, Jimmy asked me "Do you want to go to the city to see the fireworks?" I said "Absolutely!" and jumped through the shower. Within 1/2 an hour, we were headed to BART.
New Years Eve in the city is a driving and parking nightmare. Not to mention having to deal with the lack of sobriety of others. BART was the answer and we were at the Embarcadero by 10:45.
While we were finding a spot that wasn't too crowded, we saw Channel 4 News reporter Holly Juscen.
As the clock ticked closer to midnight, the crowd got louder and louder, but as soon as the last second of 2008 ticked away,the crowd noise couldn't compete with the booming fireworks.
The fireworks were set off on a barge in the Bay. That's the Bay Bridge you see on the right.
It was one of the most fantastic firework shows we've ever seen.
It's the 1st time we've gone into the city to see them. Shame on us. We've lived in the Bay Area for over 15 years and it took us this long to see them.
A few years ago, we saw them from Treasure Island. At the time, we thought we had the absolute best viewing spot. But after seeing them last night, there's absolutely no comparison.
Either that, or they totally amped up their show since then. I think it's a combination of both.
And to get the full sound effects, it makes a huge difference being on the city side of the fireworks, rather than the back side of the fireworks. Whoddah knew?
Afterward, we chatted a while with one of Jimmy's buddies. The crowds already started to thin as we walked past Pier 1 at the Port of San Francisco.
My last shot of the night was of the lingering people along Market Street.
I should mention that the kitty is doing ok. It's been 2 weeks since we got the news about her cancer and she's holding her own. We didn't think she would be with us for more than another week, so each day is a blessing. She's had 3 bad days, but the other days, she is her loving and happy, purring self. However much weaker, more tired and needs help jumping on the furniture. Her strength is low, she barely eats 1/2 a small can of food a day. But did you know they make a milk-like drink supplement for pets, similar to Pediliate or Ensure? She likes that and drinks 2-3 oz every day. And tons of water. Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes.
Happy 2009 Everyone. I wish you all a very peaceful and delightful year. _
When Danielle came to visit a few weeks ago with her daughter, she would tell everyone that she was "this many" and hold up 3 fingers. So, on the way to my birthday lunch, the 4 of us: me, Danielle, Jimmy and TG, were in the car together and I told everyone to hold up all of their fingers and that was "how many" I was. TG thought that was so funny, that was A LOT of fingers to be! We had a great time in S. California celebrating Danielle's 40th. The weather cooperated and cooled off nicely after the sun set. She had a fun band, the most delicious birthday cake, and I saw a couple of friends from high school that I haven't seen since TG's baby shower.
On another note, I went to the foot doctor the morning we left. He took an xray that showed something suspicious between the 3rd and 4th metatarsal, and after getting a CATscan, it turns out that I have torn several ligaments and have very bad sprain. I have to wear a removable cast for the next few weeks. But now my foot hurts more than it did, in places that never hurt before. Which doesn't make me want to wear it. And since it's removable, it's easy to talk myself into taking it off. But everyone around me makes sure that I wear it. I suck at self-discipline. It all comes back to my lack of fortitude.
Despite hobbling around S. California for 2 days, we had a good time. We spent Saturday morning and afternoon with Lauree, Jimmy's sister, her husband Jim, and Eric, Jimmy's brother. On the way home, we had dinner in Solvang.Solvang is a cute little town that was settled by a group of Danish educators in 1911. It was the first time Jimmy and I had gone to Solvang together. All the shops and bakeries were closed, but we found a little restaurant, and dined on Danish meatballs, sausage and red cabbage outside on their patio. I have to admit the atmosphere was far superior over the food, but it was great being in a part of California that we hadn't seen together.
Today, Sunday, we are relaxing at home. We intended on going to the hideaway, but with this gimpy leg of mine, I'm far to lazy to make another trip away from homebase. Not to mention that 2 1/2 more hours in the car, after 7 hours yesterday, doesn't sound very appealing. So the remaining of my Sunday will be spent either clicking a remote or clicking a mouse.
Saturday was the final installment of my birthday celebrations. It was a combined birthday party with Jimmy, since he turns 40 in less than 2 weeks. All in all, I think I had 6 different events celebrating my notorious 40th.
The first was in May when my cousin from Seattle came for a week to visit with her family. They're shy, otherwise I'd post pic.
The day before my birthday, I went to fondue with Danielle and her sweet little girl. bad photographer (that'd be me) should have moved those water glasses.
A week-long combined celebration at the hideaway with family and friends.
A mini GTG (get-together) at the Old Spaghetti Factory with the Yuens and Brewers because they couldn't make it to...
A dinner party for both of us at our favorite Mexican restaurant with the Bowens, Chanceys, Phin, Madmax, the Parentals and my youngest SIL.
That's a whole lotta cake and/or ice cream consumed, not to mention great food!
But the birthday celebrations aren't quite over yet. For me, yes. But Danielle and Jimmy's birthdays are the 13th and 14th. We are going to Southern California this weekend to celebrate Danielle's. Then we'll celebrate Jimmy's with the parentals on his actual day.
Hurray! More cake and/or ice cream! Must keep moving more than consuming though.
That's what I did today! Hit the big 4-0! Wow, it feels exactly like 38.
Thanks to all my loving friends and family who called, left messages, dedicated a blog post, left comments, mailed cards, sent text messages and emails. You all expand my heart.
Tomorrow, we are hideaway bound for over a week.Lots of fun, lots of water, lots of family and friends to continue the celebrations. We're hoping to get faster internet connection at the hideaway, so I may be able to do a post or two. That'd be an amazing birthday present!
The day may be over but the love I received will last me forever. _
Just how the heck did 17 years go by in a flash? Must mean that its been a great ride.
The other day we had dinner with the Bowen's at La Fondue to celebrate. Their 14th wedding anniversary this month, too. Have you ever had fondue? Can I just say that it's one of the best inventions ever. Get yourself to a fondue place if you've never tried it. Just be prepared for a long dinner, ours lasted 3 hours. Which isn't nearly enough time to digest all that cheese, meat and chocolate. But the pain is worth it, I promise. :) _
While I can definitely eat more than my fair share of Hershey Kisses, there's no way in tarnation that I coulda eaten all those kisses in my last post after the celebrating (ie: eating) I've been doing.
It's been a busy month of birthday celebrations as I mentioned here. And I did miss quite a few people, as I figured! This little sweety, Miss L, celebrated her first birthday last weekend. I'm ashamed that the only photos I actually took of her are from behind. But the other times I was either holding babies or playing with other kids or stuffing my face.
Today's celebration was Miss A's and she is the oldest of our friends kids. It doesn't seem like its been six years since her mom was preggers with her.
Miss A received this red riding hood apron (?) from her Aunt Karen. This was the most meaningful gift of the day, because the apron was originally owned by Miss A's great-great-great grandmother A Bowen, one of the ancestors A was named after. And it's Bowen tradition that the oldest Bowen girl passes it down to the next generation's oldest Bowen girl. Pretty sweet, huh? So this cute little apron is well over 100 years old...and in pretty good shape, too! I love hearing about heirlooms like this, don't you?
Prince WBowen turns 3 later this month. But the family is here for the long weekend, so they have a birthday weekend celebration, Saturday for Miss A, Sunday for Prince W. I'm gonna miss Prince W's celebrations, but I wanted to give him a little whoo hoo, too!
It's been a while since I've posted any of my craftiness, so I thought now would be a fine time just to show the cards I made for the three kids.
And lastly, August marked my 2nd blogaversary. Two years ago, I started blogging because I had been lurking on websites that offered photo challenges, and I wanted to participate, too. Then I found Illustration Friday and other websites that offered creative challenges and started submitting some of my artwork there. Thru these websites and other blog surfing, I found a creative community of bloggy friends who I enjoy spending the time reading about their world and happy to share bits of mine. Who'da ever knew I'd love it this much? It's thanks to all of you! >>Great big hugs<< _
We celebrated Jimmy's birthday at a new for us restaurant, McCormick and Schmick's. When I called to make reservations, they asked if we were celebrating a special occasion, of course I said yes. When we were seated, there was a card at the table for Jimmy and all of our menus had "Happy Birthday Jimmy!!!" printed on them. Sweet, yesh? The food was fantastic, too. We shared the crab cake appetizer, each ordered a salad and we both got the salmon stuffed with crab, bay shrimp and brie. I split a chocolate mousse with his sister and he got vanilla bean ice cream with fresh berries for dessert. Could possibly be our new favorite seafood restaurant.
I'm overwhelmed with the kindness and the generosity of all my friends, both online and personal. I had a fantastic, totally 'me' day, spoiled by everyone. But certainly one of the highlights was just hearing the little yippee's and well wishes for my birthday. I often get nostalgic around my birthday but this year I decided I would just focus on the celebrations. :) Thank you all for your warm wishes - each comment in my last post warmed my heart.
The most memorable event that happened yesterday was the rain. In 39 years, I don't recall it ever raining on my birthday. I know that in the Midwest and east coast, summer rains are par for the course, but in California, our summers are bone dry. Our local news commented that in the recorded history of the bay area, it has never rained on July 18th. I loved it - it really just barely sprinkled, but the cool weather and light precipitation was refreshing. And ending the day with a guiltless slice of chocolate cake and butter cream frosting certainly was the icing. :) -A beautiful Grace journal from Phin.
Yippee! Thanks for the support for opening the package NOW!! Green Butterfly, the gift giver also gave the green light, so it took me about a split second to tear that wrapper off! Once I did, I saw that the big box was stuffed to the brim with a bunch of goodies...all of them individually wrapped in tissue or paper.And each and every treat had a post-it note attached to it, with a funny little quip or reason why she thought of me for the particular gift(s). Some of my favorite post-it notes: -On the Trivia for the Toilet book: "Because light reading is always nice for you 'regular' folks". -On the Cosmos Grow kit: "Too cheap to buy you live flowers. Grow 'em your damn self, hehe." -On the snacks: "Because there's no such word as weight watchers on your birthday!" -On the Pirates DVD Box: "E chewed the corner. Sorry!" More precious in my eye, GB!!
The girl is hilarious!
Dontcha all just love birthdays??
Here's the aftermath of the frenzied unwrapping. Cat was not included in the box. She was just extremely curious, as cats tend to be.
So tomorrow I turn 39. I proclaim till midnight, which is just 2.5 hours away, that I am still 38. I'm celebrating with an indulgent massage and English tea, then we're heading to the parentals for a small celebration with them.
Thanks GB! I love 'em! I've eaten 1/2 the box of Panda snacks, played a couple games of Simon Says (dude, it's harder than I remember!) and almost started to grow the flowers (they're in the kitchen).
I started this more as a photo blog, then added art and crafts and now, well...nothing is off limits because I'm spilling open!
I'll be posting pics of friends and family - I know a few of you don't want to be 'published' so I'll keep you anonymous.
If you see your pic here but don't want it up, just let me know and I'll happily remove. The last thing I want is to make anyone uncomfortable or unhappy.
Cheers and thanks for visiting!
I know it's hard to tell in this photo, but both of the guys on the right are on their laptops. Sharing not only photos, but other miscellaneous technical information with each other. Sweet.
We'll be back there all day Saturday to watch Supercross races. It'll be fun as long as it doesn't rain. I'm bringing my Kindle because I'll be interested for 5 of the 10 hours, but my mind will wander a lot, that I know for sure. I'm reading "The Lovely Bones" because I considered going to the movies to watch it, but decided to read the book first.
